Creatures of Sorrow: Lay experiences of melancholy in early modern Scandinavia

Descripción del proyecto

El sufrimiento mental en la Escandinavia de los siglos XVI y XVII

Los conocimientos sobre cómo el estatus social, el género y la edad influían en las experiencias de los estados mentales antes de la era moderna son limitados, lo cual restringe nuestra comprensión histórica del sufrimiento mental. Con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el equipo del proyecto CROW investigará las experiencias de las enfermedades mentales en la Escandinavia de los siglos XVI y XVII. Mediante el análisis de los registros de los tribunales eclesiásticos, el equipo del proyecto descubre patrones en las declaraciones individuales relativas a la personificación. Además, examina patrones de descripciones melancólicas en textos médicos para ofrecer una narración histórica del sufrimiento mental. Mediante nuevas fuentes y metodologías digitales, el equipo del proyecto pretende abarcar un abanico más amplio de experiencias. En última instancia, el equipo de CROW mejora nuestra comprensión de la enfermedad mental a principios de la Edad Moderna y contribuye a los avances teóricos en la historia de la experiencia.

Objetivo

CROW explores lay experiences of being mentally unwell in 16th- and 17th century Scandinavia. It asks how social status, gender and age affected experiences of mental states before the modern era. In doing so, it deepens our understanding of mental suffering historically and creates an inclusive and complex history of the phenomenon. The project uses new sources and new digital methods that combined can reach a wide variety of experiences. The objectives of CROW are: 1. Provide an examination of experiences of being mentally unwell in the early modern period that takes into account embodied experiences and emotions as well as early modern religious and medical frameworks; 2. Advance the scope for examining lay people’s experiences through the use of digital methods; 3. Provide a historical account of experiences of mental suffering that informs present-day debate about mental health.

CROW uses as a point of departure the understanding that experiences are created through embodied sensations in cultural contexts, and thus socially bound and historically significant, to argue that they can be researched through patterns in individual statements regarding embodiment, in tandem with reconstruction of cultural frameworks. The project examines ecclesiastical court records from the Scandinavian realms to find patterns in verbatim text concerning embodied sensations. These patterns are examined in relation to descriptions of melancholy in religious and medical vernacular texts aimed at a lay audience. Through the use of software in several steps, the examination moves from the concept of melancholy, which is key to understanding mental suffering in the early modern, learned debate, to the descriptions of embodiment, which means that experiences of mental suffering can be found even when the concept of melancholy is absent. In addition to advancing understanding of early modern mental suffering, this approach will contribute theoretically to the history of experience.